motion

What this skill does

# Motion Animation Library

---
name: motion
description: |
  Production-ready setup for Motion (formerly Framer Motion) - the most popular React animation library with 30,200+ GitHub stars. Motion provides declarative animations, gesture controls, scroll-based effects, spring physics, layout animations, and SVG manipulation.

  This skill should be used when building UIs that need complex animations beyond simple list transitions: gesture controls (drag, hover, tap), scroll-linked animations, parallax effects, shared element transitions, SVG path morphing, spring physics, or orchestrated animation sequences.

  Use when: Adding drag-and-drop interactions, creating scroll-triggered animations, implementing modal dialogs with sophisticated transitions, building carousels with momentum, animating page/route transitions, creating hero sections with parallax, implementing accordion components with smooth expand/collapse, or optimizing animation bundle size with LazyMotion.

  **Important**: For simple list add/remove/sort animations, use the `auto-animate` skill instead (3.28 KB vs 34 KB bundle). Motion is designed for complex interactive animations that require fine-grained control.

license: MIT
---

## Overview

Motion (package: `motion`, formerly `framer-motion`) is the industry-standard React animation library used in production by thousands of applications. With 30,200+ GitHub stars and 300+ official examples, it provides a declarative API for creating sophisticated animations with minimal code.

**Key Capabilities:**
- **Gestures**: drag, hover, tap, pan, focus with cross-device support
- **Scroll Animations**: viewport-triggered, scroll-linked, parallax effects
- **Layout Animations**: FLIP technique for smooth layout changes, shared element transitions
- **Spring Physics**: Natural, customizable motion with physics-based easing
- **SVG**: Path morphing, line drawing, attribute animation
- **Exit Animations**: AnimatePresence for unmounting transitions
- **Performance**: Hardware-accelerated, ScrollTimeline API, bundle optimization (2.3 KB - 34 KB)

**Production Tested**: React 19, Next.js 15, Vite 6, Tailwind v4

---

## When to Use This Skill

### ✅ Use Motion When:

**Complex Interactions**:
- Drag-and-drop interfaces (sortable lists, kanban boards, sliders)
- Hover states with scale/rotation/color changes
- Tap feedback with bounce/squeeze effects
- Pan gestures for mobile-friendly controls

**Scroll-Based Animations**:
- Hero sections with parallax layers
- Scroll-triggered reveals (fade in as elements enter viewport)
- Progress bars linked to scroll position
- Sticky headers with scroll-dependent transforms

**Layout Transitions**:
- Shared element transitions between routes (card → detail page)
- Expand/collapse with automatic height animation
- Grid/list view switching with smooth repositioning
- Tab navigation with animated underline

**Advanced Features**:
- SVG line drawing animations
- Path morphing between shapes
- Spring physics for natural bounce
- Orchestrated sequences (staggered reveals)
- Modal dialogs with backdrop blur

**Bundle Optimization**:
- Need 2.3 KB animation library (useAnimate mini)
- Want to reduce Motion from 34 KB to 4.6 KB (LazyMotion)

### ❌ Don't Use Motion When:

**Simple List Animations** → Use `auto-animate` skill instead:
- Todo list add/remove (auto-animate: 3.28 KB vs motion: 34 KB)
- Search results filtering
- Shopping cart items
- Notification toasts
- Basic accordions without gestures

**Static Content**:
- No user interaction or animations needed
- Server-rendered content without client interactivity

**Cloudflare Workers Deployment** → **Known Issue**:
- Motion has build compatibility issues with Wrangler (GitHub issue #2918)
- **Workaround**: Use `framer-motion` v12.23.24 instead (same API, works with Workers)

**3D Animations** → Use dedicated 3D library:
- Three.js for WebGL
- React Three Fiber for React + Three.js

---

## Installation

### Latest Stable Version

```bash
# Using pnpm (recommended)
pnpm add motion

# Using npm
npm install motion

# Using yarn
yarn add motion
```

**Current Version**: 12.23.24 (verified 2025-11-07)

**Alternative for Cloudflare Workers**:
```bash
# Use framer-motion if deploying to Cloudflare Workers
pnpm add framer-motion
```

### Package Information

- **Bundle Size**:
  - Full `motion` component: ~34 KB minified+gzipped
  - `LazyMotion` + `m` component: ~4.6 KB
  - `useAnimate` mini: 2.3 KB (smallest React animation library)
  - `useAnimate` hybrid: 17 KB
- **Dependencies**: React 18+ or React 19+
- **TypeScript**: Native support included (no @types package needed)

---

## Core Concepts

### 1. The `motion` Component

Transform any HTML/SVG element into an animatable component:

```tsx
import { motion } from "motion/react"

// Basic animation
<motion.div
  initial={{ opacity: 0, y: 20 }}
  animate={{ opacity: 1, y: 0 }}
  transition={{ duration: 0.5 }}
>
  Content fades in and slides up
</motion.div>

// Gesture controls
<motion.button
  whileHover={{ scale: 1.1 }}
  whileTap={{ scale: 0.95 }}
>
  Click me
</motion.button>
```

**Props:**
- `initial`: Starting state (object or variant name)
- `animate`: Target state (object or variant name)
- `exit`: Unmounting state (requires AnimatePresence)
- `transition`: Timing/easing configuration
- `whileHover`, `whileTap`, `whileFocus`: Gesture states
- `whileInView`: Viewport-triggered animation
- `drag`: Enable dragging ("x", "y", or true for both)
- `layout`: Enable FLIP layout animations

### 2. Variants (Animation Orchestration)

Named animation states that propagate through component tree:

```tsx
const container = {
  hidden: { opacity: 0 },
  show: {
    opacity: 1,
    transition: {
      staggerChildren: 0.1, // Delay between each child
      delayChildren: 0.2,   // Initial delay before children
    }
  }
}

const item = {
  hidden: { opacity: 0, y: 20 },
  show: { opacity: 1, y: 0 }
}

<motion.ul variants={container} initial="hidden" animate="show">
  {items.map(item => (
    <motion.li key={item.id} variants={item}>
      {item.text}
    </motion.li>
  ))}
</motion.ul>
```

**Benefits:**
- Clean, declarative API
- Automatic choreography (stagger, delay, sequence)
- Reusable animation states
- Reduced prop drilling

### 3. AnimatePresence (Exit Animations)

Enables animations when components unmount:

```tsx
import { AnimatePresence } from "motion/react"

<AnimatePresence>
  {isVisible && (
    <motion.div
      key="modal"
      initial={{ opacity: 0 }}
      animate={{ opacity: 1 }}
      exit={{ opacity: 0 }}
    >
      Modal content
    </motion.div>
  )}
</AnimatePresence>
```

**Critical Rules:**
- AnimatePresence **must stay mounted** (don't wrap in conditional)
- All children **must have unique `key` props**
- AnimatePresence **wraps the conditional**, not the other way around

**Common Mistake** (exit animation won't play):
```tsx
// ❌ Wrong - AnimatePresence unmounts with condition
{isVisible && (
  <AnimatePresence>
    <motion.div>Content</motion.div>
  </AnimatePresence>
)}

// ✅ Correct - AnimatePresence stays mounted
<AnimatePresence>
  {isVisible && <motion.div key="unique">Content</motion.div>}
</AnimatePresence>
```

### 4. Layout Animations (FLIP)

Automatically animate layout changes:

```tsx
<motion.div layout>
  {isExpanded ? <FullContent /> : <Summary />}
</motion.div>
```

**How it works:**
- Calculates **F**irst position before change
- Applies change immediately (**L**ast position)
- **I**nverts transform to match first position
- **P**lays animation to last position

**Special Props:**
- `layoutId`: Connect separate elements for shared transitions
- `layoutScroll`: Fix animations in scrollable containers
- `layoutRoot`: Fix animations in fixed-position elements

### 5. Scroll Animations

#### Viewport-Triggered (whileInView)
```tsx
<motion.div
  initial={{ opacity: 0, y: 50 }}
  whileInView={{ opacity: 1, y: 0 }}
  viewport={{ once: true, margin: "-100px" }}
>
  Fades in when